


An Unearthly Height

by celli



Category: Forever Knight
Genre: Alternate Universe, Community: fkficfest, F/F, Space Pirates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-20
Updated: 2011-07-20
Packaged: 2017-10-21 22:47:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/230698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celli/pseuds/celli
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Pirate ship <em>Havoc</em>, this is Captain Nicholas Knight of the Interstellar Enforcement vessel <em>Hastings</em>."</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Unearthly Height

**Author's Note:**

  * For [havocthecat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/havocthecat/gifts).



> Title from the Robert Frost poem "Acquainted with the Night." Thanks to kageygirl and butterflykiki for the beta, and brightknightie for the encouragement and canon backup.

The first sign of trouble was the broadside that punched through the shields, disrupting the already unstable gravity protocol and sending the bridge crew sliding into bulkheads and under each others’ feet.

The door to the Captain’s ready room slid open, and everyone struggled back to their stations.

“Report,” Captain Janette Ducharme snapped, not bothering to retract her fangs. Behind her, a dazed and giddy human yeoman stumbled for the main bridge door. Blood still trickled down her neck.

“We’ve been hit in decks four and five, ma’am,” Vetter said. “Engineering has vamp crew out there now, stabilizing what they can.”

“Engines? Weapons?”

“Functional.” Something on Vetter’s console sparked, and she slapped at it absently. “For the moment.”

“Attacking vessel approaching. Weapons recharging,” Urs said.

Janette blurred over to the communications console and flipped a switch. She barely remembered to retract her fangs and adopt her most official accent. “This is the independent shipping vessel _Raven_ , traveling peacefully in treaty space. Why have you attacked us unprovoked?”

“You sound so innocent, Janette.”

Janette stared into the viewscreen. “Nicola.”

He inclined a head to her. “Pirate ship _Havoc_ , this is Captain Nicholas Knight of the Interstellar Enforcement vessel _Hastings_. You are detained on thirty-seven charges…including falsely identifying yourselves to authorities,” he finished dryly. “Drop your shields and prepare for boarding.”

“I will consider your offer,” Janette said, and slapped the comm off as Captain Knight began to puff up in righteous indignation. Then she began swearing in a centuries-old dialect of gutter French.

The door slid open for Chief Engineer Natalie Lambert. “What—“ she began, then cut herself off. “Nick?”

“Nick,” Janette said, making the name sound more profane than the rest of her tirade combined.

“Captain,” Vetter said, “We have a hold full of badly-hidden antiquities, and Knight probably has an itemized list of all our hauls. The penalty for piracy in the Twelve Worlds is—“

Janette raised an eyebrow.

“—high, as you know,” Vetter said, and turned her attention back to her still-smoking console.

“Thank you.” Janette scanned the dents in the bulkheads, the multiple flashing emergency lights, and the looming bulk of the _Hastings_ in the viewscreen. “It seems Captain Knight has given us no choice,” she said, turning back to Natalie.

Natalie lifted her right hand. The osmium and copper framework along her arm started to glow, and the circuits embedded in her palm winked in the light. “Shall we, then?”

Janette’s fangs slid out again as she smiled. “Indeed.”

Natalie slapped her hand onto the engineering panel, and a bolt of blue light shot along her arm and into the ship as Janette called out, “Full speed! Evasive maneuvers!”

“There’s an asteroid belt not far from here,” Urs said. “Sending the coordinates to NavCom.”

“There in ten minutes—damn it!” Vetter yelled. “Someone get fire suppressant over here! My jacket’s on fire!”

Natalie’s eyes were unfocused, but she was still smiling. “In ten minutes, we’ll either be safe or in pieces.”

“I look forward to seeing which,” Janette said over Nick’s increasingly urgent hails. Natalie reached her free hand out, and Janette took it, bracing herself for the shock of energy that flowed through her.

“ _Hastings_ firing!” Urs called. “Brace!”

***

 _Three Years Earlier_

The captain’s quarters in the _Havoc_ \- or the _Progeny_ , as she was currently known to the authorities – were compact and efficient, as every square foot not used for living space could carry additional cargo after a successful raid. But Janette’s love of luxury could not be denied. The blacked-out windows were draped in gold and black satin, and the bed in red silk.

It looked particularly marvelous with Natalie’s hair spread across it, Janette thought. She trailed a hand up Natalie’s body, and was rewarded with a sigh and a shiver.

“You’re the most delicious human I’ve known, I think,” Janette said.

Natalie smiled. “Says the vampire who refuses to bite me.”

“I may yet.” Janette pressed a finger against that oh-so-tempting spot on Natalie’s neck, feeling and hearing the pulse quicken beneath it. “But then what would our friend Nicola have to say about it?”

“Nothing, if he wants to keep his med-tech specialist onboard,” Natalie said with the tart tone she so often used when discussing her captain. “There are a hundred ships who would pay for my experience and—“ She waved her hand in the air, where the metal caught the candlelight. “My everything. I can repair everything from a garbage bot to a space station, I invented the tech that lets vampires turn mortal, but does he do what I ask? Or listen to my advice? Of course not! He’s so—so _Nick_.”

“Hmm,” Janette said.

“Hmm? Do you disagree with me about his general Nick-ness?”

“Not in the slightest. He has been frustrating vampires and mortals for longer than this planet has been in existence,” Janette said, nodding at the window where New Ontario lay, three centimeters of tungsten and a hundred and thirty kilometers away.

“Well then?”

Janette captured Natalie’s lips in a slow, thoughtful kiss. “Perhaps it’s time to just let Nick be…Nick.”

“But then when would I see you?”

“You can fix anything, yes? Even the _Havoc_?”

“Of course I can,” Natalie said.

Janette smiled.

Natalie looked solemnly back at her, although her eyes were alight with anticipation. “I might consider a reassignment. Pending negotiation, of course.”

“There are a hundred ships who would pay for your ‘everything,’” Janette murmured.

Natalie trailed a finger along Janette’s jaw and into her open mouth. Janette allowed her fangs to appear; Natalie scored her finger along one, then the other, letting the faintest hint of blood come to the surface. “I would demand certain compensation. Perks, even,” she finished on a gasp as Janette closed her mouth around Natalie’s finger and tasted her blood for the first time.

“I look forward to meeting your demands,” Janette said as Natalie pulled her down and bared her neck.


End file.
